China also said the US-brokered proposal of these countries to ensure free and open "Indo-Pacific ... should avoid politicising or excluding some relevant parties".

China on Monday said the US, Japan, India and Australia should not target Beijing, a day after the four met on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Manila and decided to work for a "free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region".

China also said the US-brokered proposal of these countries to ensure free and open "Indo-Pacific ... should avoid politicising or excluding some relevant parties".

"The relevant proposal should be open and inclusive and should be conducive to the win-win cooperation and avoid politicising or excluding some relevant parties," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

"From China's persistent foreign policy, we welcome the development of friendly cooperation between the relevant countries and we hope this kind of relation is not directed against any third party and we hope this kind of relations will be conducive to the regional peace and stability," Geng added.

US President Donald Trump has been increasingly using the term "Indo-Pacific" for Asia-Pacific to clearly signal the inclusion of India in the Indian Ocean.

Some experts say the US wants to contain China with help from India, Australia and Japan.

"Peace, development and win-win cooperation is the trend of the times... I think the development in any country, any region should correspond to the trend of the times and the trend of the world," Geng said

"I think all relevant parties can put forward their vision and proposal on how to develop cooperation between the countries and regions. I hope this kind of proposal and vision can correspond to with the trend and correspond with the trend of the world," he added.

The representatives of the four countries met for the first time on the sidelines of the Asean Summit on Sunday.

Later, India's External Affairs Ministry said: "The discussions focused on cooperation based on their converging vision and values for promotion of peace, stability, and prosperity in an increasingly inter-connected region that they share with each other and with other partners."